Happy Monday everyone and happy Family Day to those of you reading and relaxing on today’s stat holiday in Canada. Not all provinces participate in Family Day and as a new Albertan this is definitely a great perk of living in this province for sure! I love just chilling with the family. Also I just found out today is President’s Day in the US. Is that a stat holiday for you?

I was reading one of my favorite parenting magazines the other day, Canadian Family, and wanted to share with you an excerpt from Leslie Beck, a well-known Canadian registered dietician, nutrition expert and author of Leslie Beck’s Healthy Kitchen: 250 Quick and Delicious Recipes Plus Essential Kitchen Tips. In the magazine article, Leslie talked about the many benefits of menu planning including how it allows you to be organized, prevents last minute dashes to the store, allows you to account for the nights you need to put a quick meal on the table, and designating what you’re going to eat prevents you from making on-the-fly poor choices for your family, such as convenience foods. “Knowing what you’re going to eat takes the stress out of having to figure it out at the end of a hectic day.” She also assures us that what seems like such an overwhelming chore really isn’t. The more often you plan your family’s meals, the easier it gets. “The reality is, the busier you are, the more important meal planning becomes.”

Leslie Beck’s Top Three Menu Planning Tips for Families:

1. Get Input: “Engage your family in the process. When everyone has a say about which meals they’d like to eat, they’re more likely to be open to eating other people’s selections. Post your weekly meal plan in a visible spot (e.g., fridge door) to prevent complaints by reminding everyone what’s been agreed upon for dinner.”

2. Plan For Leftovers: “As you plan your meals, think about how you can cook once and get two or more meals out of it. For instance, you might plan to make a large roast chicken one night and save the leftovers for wraps the next night when you need dinner in a hurry. Batch-cook soups, casseroles, pasta sauce or chili on the weekend and freeze to serve on a busy weeknight.”

3. Make a Grocery List: “Once you have your meals planned out, write out a list. It means you’ll buy only what you need. Grocery shopping once a week also saves time and money.”

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We celebrated a fabulous Valentine’s Day with the kids. We had a delicious No Bake Cheesecake for dessert and while this wasn’t necessarily my favorite no bake cheesecake recipe (it didn’t set as much as I like) it was still yummy.

And of course jello jigglers are always a hit but I always forget how much I dislike getting them out of the pan. What is the trick to that anyway?

This below was my valentine’s gift from my son…he made me a big bowl of popcorn with ketchup spices for flavoring. Yum, I love popcorn!!

Thanks for hosting Meal Plan Monday. This week I’m sharing some simple gravy recipes – a great way to jazz up any simple meal (in addition to our meal plan). Enjoy family day! I love that idea for holiday. Today it is Presidents’ Day in the US, but my husband has to work…

Great reasons for menu-planning, Laura – it’s so true! It used to seem hard, but now it usually takes just a few minutes (unless I’m tryin’ to get all fancy) and we get variety and use up what we have. Love it!

That Garlic-Honey chicken sounds great – though I think I’d lessen the amount of honey- have you ever done that? Honey is sweeter than sugar and there’s also sugar in the ketchup, so it sounds like cutting it down to 1/4 c. would be do-able…

There’s a slow cooker roast on my menu this week and I may have to be a rebel and serve it mid-week, too. The mustard and horseradish gravy in the recipe I’m trying might be too hard to wait for til the weekend.

Because of your blog and my desire to waste less food, I started menu planning. I have to say it’s life changing not thinking about what’s for dinner every night and I only go to the store once a week. Amazing!

I make a layered jello that would not turn out at all if it stuck. The best remedy I’ve found it a very light spritz of cooking spray. I even use it when making “Knox blocks” in my 9×13 glass pan. So easy to get the Jello out.

Thanks for hosting. I shared my freezer to crockpot meal plan for a week. It works wonders when I’m overwhelmed and life is super busy! I have a 7 month old and he’s been a handful that needs to be held A LOT, so I decided what better way than to make dinner time easier.

Thanks for sharing the menu planning excerpt. Planning for leftovers has been really important. Sometimes up to half the meals we eat in a week are leftovers, so I’m learning to dress up the leftvoers into new meals

What is a “stat holiday”? Post Offices are closed & it used to be a bank & business holiday in the U.S., but everyone isn’t closed anymore – “too much $ would be lost” I’m sure is the reasoning behind it.